Saturday, 2 January 2010

Mainland is already facing a serious property bubble, especially in second-tier cities, and the government must tighten bank lending to prevent it from swelling to dangerous proportions, a top developer said on Friday.

Mainland is already facing a serious property bubble, especially in second-tier cities, and the government must tighten bank lending to prevent it from swelling to dangerous proportions, a top developer said on Friday.

In a statement yesterday, the China-based waste management and environmental solutions company said investigations by the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau yielded no evidence to prove Mr. Sun embezzled company funds.

When investors open their books for a new year, without doubt that China will be a hot spot that they can’t afford to miss. And for many who have closely followed the country’s rise from economic slowdown, there are still uncovered opportunities lying in this vastly diversified market.

First it was “tofu” schools, now foam bridges. Shanghai engineers have become the subject of ridicule from internet users after a supposedly concrete bridge was found stuffed with rubbish and plastic foam.

In January last year, this column warned that “Chinese banks may not be as solid as they look”.

It argued that a combination of rapidly expanding lending books, sketchy credit standards and fudged loan classifications meant that asset quality and capital adequacy in China’s banking sector were both weaker than the official figures led investors to believe.